The "reading crisis" is a pressing contemporary issue, reflecting declining literacy, shrinking attention spans, and a general shift from books to screens.

This book moves beyond typical campaigns, instead exploring the very essence and impact of reading, emphasizing the profound value of engaging with long texts. While not offering a simple solution, it reveals what we're losing in this digital age and provides insights to actions to help us become good readers once more.

"'Reading crisis' is, with its many good, platitude-free sentences, excellent research dissemination. That Spjeldnæs spices up her inspiring, little reading book with literary examples is in itself an argument to leave your cell-phone [tucked away].

NRK

It takes willpower to read longer texts today

"If the ability to focus and read becomes a resource possessed primarily by people with higher education and cultural capital, that's a problem. Both to the knowledge society and to the democracy, says Kari Spjeldnes."

krigsvidenskab.dk

A book that reminds us of why reading matters

"[...]Spjeldnæs points out something highly significant. Reading is not just a past-time or a personal hobby. It's a skill that's foundational for knowledge, reflection and public discourse. [...] As such, it's even more important that somebody still highlights books, recommends reading and contributes to keeping the conversation on literature alive. "Reading crisis" is therefore a thought-provoking book."

Rose-Maries litteratur- og filmblogg

Reading crisis as contemporary diagnosis

"Are there anyone who still doubts that we are facing a reading crisis these days? If you read Kari Spjeldnæs' book on the topic, that doubt will hopefully diminish considerably. [...] Over the course of seven chapters she gives a convincing presentation of the trouble we have gotten ourselves into, why we are there, and what could/should be done to come out of this crisis."

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